Taurus is a distinctive constellation, with
star-tipped horns and a head defined by a V-shaped group of
stars. Two Greek bull-myths were associated with Taurus.
Usually it was said to represent Zeus in the disguise he
adopted for another of his extramarital affairs, this time as
the bull that carried away Europa, daughter of King Agenor of
Phoenicia.
Europa liked to play on the beach with the
other girls of Tyre. Zeus instructed his son Hermes to drive
the king’s cattle from their pastures on the mountain
slopes towards the shore where the girls were playing. Adopting
the shape of a bull, Zeus surreptitiously mingled with the
lowing herd, awaiting his chance to abduct Europa. There was no
mistaking who was the most handsome bull. His hide was white as
fresh snow and his horns shone like polished metal.
Europa was entranced by this beautiful yet
placid creature. She adorned his horns with flowers and stroked
his flanks, admiring the muscles on his neck and the folds of
skin on his flanks. The bull kissed her hands, while inwardly
Zeus could hardly contain himself in anticipation of the final
conquest. The bull lay on the golden sands and Europa ventured
to sit on his back. At first, she feared nothing when the bull
rose and began to paddle in the surf. But she became alarmed
when it began to swim strongly out to sea. Europa looked around
in dismay at the receding shoreline and clung tightly to the
bull’s horns as waves washed over the bull’s back.
Craftily, Zeus the bull dipped more deeply into the water
to make her hold him more tightly still.
By now, Europa had realized that this was
no ordinary bull. Eventually, the bull waded ashore at Crete,
where Zeus revealed his true identity and seduced Europa. He
gave her presents that included a dog that later became the
constellation Canis Major. The offspring of Zeus and Europa
included Minos, king of Crete, who established the famous
palace at Knossos where bull games were held.
An alternative story says that Taurus may
represent Io, another illicit love of Zeus, whom the god turned
into a heifer to disguise her from his wife Hera. But Hera was
suspicious and set the hundred-eyed watchman Argus to guard the
heifer. Hera, furious at this, sent a gadfly to chase the
heifer, who threw herself into the sea and swam away.
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Taurus charges with head down towards Orion, as depicted in the Atlas Coelestis of John Flamsteed (1729). Only the front part of the bull is shown in the sky. The bull’s eye is marked by the reddish star Aldebaran, while on his back is the Pleiades star cluster. One horn ends at the foot of Auriga.
In the sky, only the front half of the bull
is shown. This can be explained mythologically by assuming that
the hind quarters are submerged. In reality, there is no space
in the sky to show the complete bull, for the constellations
Cetus and Aries lie where the bull’s hind quarters should
be. Taurus shares with Pegasus this uncomfortable fate of
having been sliced in half in the sky.
Taurus is depicted on star maps as sinking
on one leg, perhaps to entice Europa onto its back. Manilius
described the bull as lame and drew a moral from it: ‘The
sky teaches us to undergo loss with fortitude, since even
constellations are fashioned with limbs deformed’, he
wrote.
The face of Taurus is marked by the
V-shaped group of stars called the Hyades. Ovid in his Fasti asserts that the
name comes from the old Greek word hyein, meaning ‘to rain’, so that Hyades
means ‘rainy ones’, because their rising at certain
times of year was said to be a sign of rain. In mythology the
Hyades were the daughters of Atlas and Aethra the Oceanid.
Their eldest brother was Hyas, a bold hunter who one day was
killed by a lioness. His sisters wept inconsolably –
Hyginus says they died of grief – and for this they were
placed in the sky. Hence it seems equally likely that their
name comes from their brother Hyas. In another story, the
Hyades were nymphs who nursed the infant Dionysus in their cave
on Mount Nysa, feeding him on milk and honey. The Romans had a
different name; they called the Hyades suculae meaning
‘piglets’.
The mythographers were massively confused
about the names and even the number of the Hyades. They are
variously described as being five or seven in number. The Greek
astronomer Ptolemy listed five Hyades in his star catalogue.
Hyginus alone gives four different lists of their names, none
of which agrees completely with the list of five originally
given by Hesiod, viz: Phaesyle, Coronis, Cleia, Phaeo and
Eudore. Astronomers have avoided the problem by not naming any
of the stars of the Hyades.
Binoculars and small telescopes show many
more members of the Hyades than are visible to the naked eye.
In all, astronomers now estimate that several hundred stars
belong to the cluster, which lies 150 light years away.
© Ian Ridpath. All rights reserved
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